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Duke Steals Notre Dame's AD

Earlier this spring, Duke suddenly found itself, thankfully, in the need of a new athletic director. Joe Alleva, who had presided over the debacle that was the Duke lacrosse case had skipped town to become the new AD at LSU. He's now Les Miles' problem and good riddance.

So, Duke was faced with a seemingly major problem: how to attract a first rate candidate to its newly open AD job. Let's face it, while there are a lot of things to like about Duke, the AD job doesn't really appear to be one of them. Sure, the basketball program is a successful, both on the court and financially but as any student of collegiate athletics knows, football drives the financial engine. And Duke football is, charitably, the worst in the BCS and in desperate need not only of wins but of major facilities upgrades which requires a huge financial commitment. So a new AD will be expected not just to turn football around but to raise great sums of money to do it before the results can be seen on the field. Now just how many people do you think are lining up for this job?

That makes the signing of Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White to be almost incomprehensible. White is highly respected around the entire NCAA and has done a masterful job in difficult circumstances at Notre Dame. That he was willing to leave for a program in the condition that Duke is in says volumes about his situation at ND and if I were a Domer fan I would be very concerned. What it says is that Crewcut is in charge of the athletic department and the Board of Trustees would not back up its AD in any battle between the boss and his employee. The board took the employee's (Weis, in case you weren't following) side and White felt too compromised to stay. In truth, his path out the door probably began with the Whittingham firing and Weis hiring and only progressed from there. The contract extension in the middle of the first season, which was clearly not White's idea fanned the flames. The measure of his desire to get out is the word he used to describe his feeling upon landing in Durham. When he got there, he said he was "euphoric" to be there, that's right "euphoric". That's not a word that new hires usually say to make the new bosses feel good. That's an expression of sheer relief to be out of a situation that had become a living hell.

Welcome to Durham Kevin and best of luck. You're going to love living in Durham but you're going to need all the help you can get resurrecting that football program. Oh, and when the time comes, better not blow that hiring decision when you pick a new basketball coach.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).